December 27, 2006

You CAN'T take the tree down yet! Not til New Years (ok, frankly I'm ready to retake the living room myself, but I just cannot bring myself to take it down yet for the kids sake).

DD9 is at the brink of wondering if Santa is real or not. Of course, I say he is! But kids in her class say otherwise. Well, for this year she still believed me. Wonder if next year she will believe me, being a big middle schooler and all...

My bedroom was a MESS yesterday. Really, really bad. Mission Organization could have done a show in there. LOL! I tackled it yesterday. Found all surfaces, dusted, etc. Now, I haven't done the closets yet, but it felt good getting that much done. DH is very happy now (except I moved the dirty clothes hamper over on his side of the bed and he couldn't find it. LOL!).

Today is the desk closet in the living room and the office room (which is my sewing and scrapbooking stuff, DH's camping table that serves as his desk, two bookshelves that are packed with stuff, and all music stuff, like 3 guitars, an amp, stereo, and CD cabinet). Wish me luck.

I have been MIA for sooooo long! And don't think that I've been organizing and decluttering and flying this whole time! LOL! I have kept up with Jenny on her blog and I check in from time to time here. But, I think I need to come back to the nest! IF you'll have me!

DD is now 7. I can't believe it. She's not a baby any longer. She's been home 3.5 years now. We had a potential crisis revolving around her adoption and Russia meddling into it and 30-something others and asking questions. Just got word last week that the person who assisted us with our adoption was cleared of any charges & the investigation is over. Yippee!!! That spector is no longer hanging over our heads.

I quit my job of almost 13 years ago in October and am working at a new office. I love it. Much less stress. Found out that my old office is getting out of the business end that I was involved with effective 2/28/07 and focusing on the other parts they do. Guess that was good judgement on my part, although I didn't have an inkling that would happen. I work 8-3 daily and get off in time to pick up DD at school. I help her with her homework and with the seatwork she didn't finish or do correctly and fix dinner. She is in first grade and is starting to want to do it herself. I just mainly check it now. Her reading is so much improved and her math is even coming along!

Along the educational lines, she asked for a gameboy (OK, she calls it a "gamegirl" when it's pink!) for Christmas. I just couldn't spend that kind of money when she has no experience with video games AND she is so careless dropping stuff and losing it. So, I got her a Leapster with a game and then BIL got a game for it as well. She has really enjoyed it! She does math and vocabulary on it.

She also got a full size keyboard and will start piano lessons in January. She got a basketball too & she is playing in the elementary league at her school starting Jan. 13. Her b'day is 12/21, so that & Christmas just all jumbles together. DH is off until 1/2, so he was a gem and cleaned up her wreck of a playroom before Christmas. We're going to make her keep it clean.

Along that line of thinking, I really want to live simpler. We have too much stuff. Don't even know what we have, so we buy more of what we already own & forgot we had 'cause we can't find it! Our house is tiny and we are bulging out of it. Too many clothes, too many shoes, too many purses (ouch!), too many toys, etc. Instead of packing it in plastic bins and stuffing them in storage at my mom's (which she says she is now at maximum capacity!), I am purging! If it's not being donated, I'm gonna sell it on Ebay.

This is my PODA for 2007 and especially the first part of the year:

* Purge, purge, purge - less stuff, less stress
* Treat myself with respect - eat right, dress right, fill my mind with right thinking
* Tame my tongue - my DD is getting the same razor-sharp smart tongue that I've been exhibiting lately; gotta control that PMS
* Get our finances under control; messy desk = late bills, late fees, etc.- UGH!

I am leading (not teaching - just leading) a ladies' Bible study starting Jan. 14 so I want to get a lot done before that. I want to feel in control in my life as I lead this study because I need confidence in myself to do this. I am stepping waaaaaayyyyy out of my comfort zone on this one!

Anyway, I've rambled on for far too long now. I am looking forward to meeting the "new" faces here and reconnecting with old imaginary friends! Hope you all had a great holiday & that we'll all have a wonderful, organizing and FLY-happy New Year!

Vonnie

Clairee: The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.

"Steel Magnolias"

Hey Vonnie!! Glad to see you around again! Missed ya! Please blog some more, too!! Very busy life you have had the past couple of months. Glad about the new job and that it works out in your busy life. Always a good thing. LOL!

DDs have a gameboy, but I sure didn't buy it! Was left behind after a big thing at the school. No one claimed or asked for it, so my girls got it. The light up thingie doesn't work, but other than that, it's fine. The kids each got a game for it for Christmas.

I managed to throw away a bag of stuff between the desk and office. And that was without touching DH's stuff. Been going thru my fabric stash, too. I got 2 Debbie Mumm books off Ebay and one for Christmas, and she has a lot of little appliqued stuff. I sorted out all the scraps and will have those on hand for little things like that. Also took a few boxes of clothes out to the camper to store. Most are 4 boxes of maternity clothes and one of bottles. Will give it to a girl who has found herself knocked up. She doesn't need it yet. Morning sickness has took about 10 pounds off of her right now.

DH back. LOL! Gotta go!

HI Everyone -

OMG! Welcome back Vonnie!! I am so happy to see you here! Please join us - I miss hearing about your life and your DD. Your schedule sounds great. Good luck with the purging - I think we could all do some of that. Do you have a blog I don't know about?

Good job on the office Jenny! Feels good, doesn't it?

Well, DH and I got a lot of cleaning done today - tree is down, kitchen mopped, 3 bathrooms cleaned, sheets changed on guest bed, laundry done, and some decor down. Will leave some up awhile. He went to Wegmans to pick up a few things.

Tomorrow DD and I are going to a mall to spend her build a bear certificate she got from Santa along with her beanbag. It is a little further than our closeby mall - about 40 minutes. Should be fun though. I may look for a pair of cords I can wear to work, we'll see. I hate trying on clothes.

OK, I'm off - bye!
Andrea

Sorry, somehow that posted twice.

Hi Vonnie! I am so happy to "see" you. I am so glad things are working out with you daughter and your job. You have got me thinking about less stuff= less stress. We did the extention on the house but it is so easy to just fill it up with stuff. I may follow your lead.

Today was a semi-productive day. I can finally say my laundry is washed, dried, folded and PUT AWAY!!!!!!!! I spent most of the day yesterday doing that. Lex isn't feeling well, I think just a cold thing going on. She hardly slept after 3am so it was a long tiring day.

Tada and poda for yesterday and today:
~laundry done
~menus done and food shopped
~visited my Nanny at the cemetery
~started organizing all our clothes
~polished cabinets
~vacuumed upstairs and downstairs really good
OK gotta get the crazy girl in her crib. goodnight girls Love Jackie

Oh, hallaleuyah (or however you spell it!)! It is FRIDAY!!!! It has been a long week for it to have been a short week. I am definitely spoiled to getting off at 3; working till 5 sucks!

DH took down an old trellis at our back door last afternoon. It was covered with ivy and about to fall down from the weight. It had a floodlight on it, so he turned off the breaker to it. When I got home, I went to our bedroom & had no power. Tried the breaker; still no power. Something's wrong with the breaker, we hope it's just the breaker, so we have no power in there. I didn't go to bed until 11:30 last night because DH and I had a date night then I had to come home and do some straightening up, etc. and then I didn't sleep well because I was afraid of oversleeping. I set the windup clock and my cell phone alarm and got up right before they even went off.

MIL wants DD to spend the night with them Sunday night, so DH and I may be spending New Years Eve alone. That will seem strange. I may rent us some good movies and we can watch them to ring in the new year.

Well, I've gained so much weight (still haven't officially weighed yet) that I've decided to get healthy. I don't say "lose weight" because 1. that's only a part of it and 2. I want this to be a lifestyle change and saying lose weight doesn't bring that to mind for me. I'm going to do a DIY plan like I did several years ago when I lost 30 pounds.

I am hoping to get myself together and start posting a PODA and TADA starting January 1. DH says he has a list of things to get done here, but he is running out of time before going back to work on Tuesday!

Well, I'm gonna run. Need to get in the shower here shortly. Y'all have a good day!

Vonnie

Clairee: The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.

"Steel Magnolias"

OK whats with the 2 year old waking up ALL night long and telling me there are monsters, whales, crabs in her room. She is still in the crib Thank Goodness. I slept next to her crib on the floor and she really was trying to go to sleep but couldnt fall asleep. Hopefully this too shall pass.

So.... Today is a mess already since Iam not dressed and dh is leaving for work in like 5 minutes. I am supposed to have a friend over for breakfast, make chicken cacciatore for Dh tonight, work, then go to a neighborhood holiday gettogether without kids. I will be lucky if I stay awake until 1pm I get one to sleep through the night and now the other is up!!!!! And to top it off Dh and I just had a fight because he made decaf coffee. WTF???? I have no sleep and you give me decaf? Put your freakin head on. Ok thanks I feel better already.

So a tada and poda:
~make chicken cacciatore
~call friend about this am
~get stuff to make a cheesecake for tonight. Or I will be a loser and buy something before work.
~work 3-9m
~go to aprty after work
Well have a good day. Sorry I am such a crab. Love Jackie

Morning Everyone -

Hope your power gets back on Vonnie - bummer! That will be nice to have New Year's Eve with DH.

Jackie, what a night, goodness. And you definitely deserved caf. coffee after that. You've got quite the busy day today.

Well, like Vonnie's DH, I have 4 days left of vacation, so am trying to spend my time wisely.

TADA so far:
dw emptied
laundry started

PODA:
finish laundry
put sheets on bed
exercise
spend 15 minutes in frig - my Zone for the dayt
vac FR carpet and furniture
order pictures from December
maybe Wegmans
maybe sort through Christmas cards

See ya!
Andrea

We gots snow! And a dead body on the police/fire/ambulance scanner. Hey, it's the cheapest form of entertainment, listening to who is getting pulled over, who fell down and broke a hip, maybe a high speed chase or drug bust. Expecting 3-5 inches of snow by tomorrow. Very cool. I'll have to get DH to go get some firewood up to the house (its in a pile by the garden. Hey, the kids all got work gloves in their stockings. May make them do it!).

Vonnie, DH is starting Weight Watchers again next week. Which means a lifestyle change for us, too (much as I hate to. I like the way I cook. I don't fry anything anymore). But maybe then I can lose these last 5 pounds.

Jackie, skip the coffee, go straight to the cokes. LOL! Wish caffene had some sort of effect on me. I could drink a pot of coffee and go straight to sleep (and since I dislike coffee, I don't drink it). Hope you get a second wind for tonight!

May take down the Christmas decor and reclaim my living room, but undecided as of yet. Definatly will start a fire in the fireplace. Laundry. Gotta be prepared for power outage. I know the jail/Police/sheriff/dispatcher are all on backup generators right now in town. Should be an interesting day!

HI -

Just taking a breather and eating a late breakfast -

I got quite a bit of stuff done already, still need to spend some time with the frig and start my scrapping, but that's fun. Thinking about a trip to WM.

I'm off to order my December photos now -
Andrea

Good evening, Ladies. I just returned from a post-Christmas trip to Las Vegas with DD. A good time was had by all.

Morning All -

Well, I did pretty well yesterday, got everything done, but was beat.

PODA for today:
dw
laundry
exercise
WM for a couple things
one page scrapping
take DS to basketball
maybe vacuum the van

Welcome back Lois!

See ya -
Andrea

It's great to hear how you two are doing!

Andrea, I'm impressed with anyone who can scrap. I can knit, crochet, and sort of sew, but that's all stuff that doesn't really matter if it gets squashed. Keeping bits of paper from getting crumpled is beyond my abilities!

Jenny, when I was 9 my parents got so upset that I was starting to doubt Santa that I re-increased my "faith" in him, but then the kids at school were SO mean to me, I wish my parents had told me the truth. It wouldn't have hurt my feelings to think he wasn't real, but it did hurt my feelings to be tormented at school. FWIW. But I was in fourth grade when I was 9-- I don't remember when your DD's birthday is, but if she is in third grade she might have another year.

Jackie, do you think she had trouble sleeping because she was getting over that cold you mentioned? I'm getting over a cold and last night I was really restless and had horrible nightmares.

We're home from visiting my family in Atlanta, as of Wednesday night. I've been sort of sputtering along since then-- every time I get going on a cleaning project, DH has some sort of urgent issue with his work or something that causes me to have to drop everything for several hours. I told him that I do NOT want to leave the house today, and that I want to get a lot of housework done, so plan accordingly!

PODA:

-morning routine (what? 10 am is still "morning," right?)
-handwash one of my bras
-do some crocheting (I'm making baby blankets and baby clothes)
-put away groceries (they're being delivered)
-whatever Flylady emails I can manage
-take out all trash
-some desk chores
-listen to my Hypnobabies CD

OK, so since I typed that now the theme from "Welcome Back, Kotter" is going through my mind.

Yesterday was so hectic at the office that I never got a chance to post. Let me explain my workplace. My bosses are a married couple from my church. They are in their 50's. He comes in 1-2 times a week to make deposits, etc. She is there everyday, 8-5 and more. She writes commercial and life insurance. There is a lady who is a customer service rep for personal lines who works M-F 8-5. I am a CSR for personal lines and I work M-F 8-3. 8-3 was my agreement when I started there so I can go pick up DD at school and get her home and working on homework. Plus, when ball season is in, she has practice and games which I would not be able to get her to if I worked until 5. Boss lady knows nothing about personal lines. She can't take a payment or quote or write a policy. She doesn't want to learn how to do these things, either. When the other CSR is out, it is expected that I work until 5. That sucks. I have had to go to school and bring DD back with me just so she won't be there by herself. By the time I leave at 3 to go get her, drive 10 miles each way and get back it is almost 4. So I drive an hour just to work an extra hour. I have only told them I couldn't work once I think. Well, co-worker had 2 1/2 days to take or she'd lose them (they don't allow you to roll days over). So, the office was closed Mon & Tues, she worked Wed morning and then was off Thurs & Fri. Since they know DD is out of school and DH is off until next week, they knew I had no reason not to work until 5 every day. Wed & Thurs we put a sign on the door at lunch and went at the same time so boss wouldn't be there by herself. Yesterday morning was totally crazy. The phones rang off the hook, I had several people who walked in and had to wait on me. I wrote one policy and quoted two that the folks are coming in Tues to buy. By 1:15 I finally got rid of everyone and told her I was going to lunch. I asked if she was going too. She said "well, maybe we need to stay in to eat in case it keeps on being this busy". I just flat out said "well, I'm not staying in. I need to get out for a little while and plus I have to make our deposit at the bank." She said "oh, I forgot about the bank. Well, OK." So, she stayed and ate lunch she had brought & I left and stayed gone the WHOLE hour. My coworker warned me the first week I was there not to get in the habit of eating lunch there unless I bring it back and eat it the last 20 minutes of my hour because if anyone came in or called, boss expected you to get up and help them and once your hour had started ticking, you had to be back at the desk in 60 minutes even if you had spent 45 minutes helping someone and not eating. Well, I'm a fast study. I leave the office, usually for the whole hour. I'm gonna try to lose weight and so I'll be eating my lunches I bring, but I'll do that the last 20 minutes of my hour and I'll be out the first part. Even if I drive down the road and sit and read.

So, needless to say I was stressed out yesterday. Thankfully the afternoon was much less hectic, but busy still. And I was out of there at 5:00 p.m.! We're closed Monday, so I have a long weekend. Wooho!

Today's TADAs:

* Unload & reload dishwasher
* Made sweet iced tea
* Finished laundry & put away 3 loads of clothes
* Started towels in washer a few minutes ago
* Cleaned up bathroom - major task! (even cleaned out under the sink)
* Cleaned up kitchen
* Cleaned out refrigerator organizer and switched out refrigerator calendar
* Made up bed in our bedroom when DH got up and straightened up in there

Then I took a nap. I have a bad head cold and feel terrible today. Did I mention that DH took down our unsightly trellis that was covered in thick ivy and was falling down? Well, he turned off all the breakers so he could cut the lines to the floodlights that were on the trellis thing. Now our bedroom has no power. My brother (who got his degree in electricity but doesn't work in that area now) couldn't figure it out. So, we'll be calling an electrician to come Tuesday. DH promises he'll have the house in shape for someone to come in by then. Of course, he had a list of stuff he was going to clean/organize this past week & precious little has actually gotten done.

My PODA for the rest of today:

* Finish laundering towels (I have another load to wash)
* Pick out our clothes for church tomorrow while I can still see in my bedroom to do so
* Call our friends who are in town from CA to try to get together
* Work on kodak gallery books online
* Study in Bible study book for the class I am leading starting Jan 14

I hope everyone has a good day. I'm so glad to be "back" here with my imaginary friends!

Love ya,
Vonnie

Clairee: The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.

"Steel Magnolias"

That's tough Vonnie - stick it out. I think you need to stick to your hours as you had planned.

I got quite a bit done today - the kids both had friends over, so that took up some time. Made a nice dinner from Rachael Ray's cookbook I got for Xmas. Yum! Pork cho9ps with maple syrup sauce and apples.

Church tomorrow and maybe some more scrapping - I got one page done today.
Andrea

We got 6 inches of snow. I did basically nothing but a couple loads of laundry and filled up the wood box in the garage. Took a nap w/ baby. Listened to the police scanner. Played PS2 with kids (Star Wars Legos game). Listened to police scanner. DH was called out on another ambulance run, then the fire dept. in town was swamped with calls, so he went in to see if he could lend a hand. Roads are very slick and icy, I'm glad I'm home in front of the fireplace. And plan to stay here, too.

Night!

For the new year!